Nagori along with Rahul Sakharam Mali (21), Vikas Ramavatar Khandelwal (22) and Santosh alias Sunny Ananta Bagade (22), all residents of Ichalkaranji in Kolhapur, were arrested for their alleged involvement in the killing of UoP security guard Jogdandkar who was shot dead in May.

However, during investigations it came to the fore that the accused may have provided firearms to the persons who gunned down Maharashtra Andhshraddha Nirmoolan Samiti founder Dr Narendra Dabholkar on August 20.

Commissioner of Police Gulabrao Pol yesterday told reporters that the Crime Branch officials are verifying the role of Nagori and his accomplices in the Dabholkar murder case.

While seeking police custody, assistant public prosecutor Milind Datrange told the court: “The offence is of a serious nature and the accused are not revealing important information about the motive behind the crime. They need to be interrogated in police custody to find out the names of other criminals whom they have sold the firearms.”

Defense counsel B A Aloor requested judicial custody of the accused stating that the police were unsuccessful in recovering weapon and tracing Heena Pathan, wife of Manish Nagori. The court after listening to both arguments remanded the four accused in police custody till Wednesday.

Meanwhile, police inspector Arun Walture told the court that 14 criminals on police records who are known to have used firearms were interrogated after their names were revealed during the custodial interrogations of Nagori and his associates.

“We have also questioned nine persons who were using the SIM cards that were earlier being used by the arrested accused, ” Walture said. Investigations till now have revealed that Nagori is a big illegal arms dealer and has so far sold 47 firearms to various criminals across the state.